Three's a Crowd
by RatherBeAWriter
Summary: A series of one-shots detailing Castle and Beckett's adventures as parents. Post-Crossfire. This was their always and it would certainly never be boring.


**A/N: I know I'm a little late to the party on this one but I finally watched the last season and after the finale immediately wanted to write some family fluff. I'm going to keep this series of one-shots light and largely unconnected so that they can all be read alone, as I know my updates are likely to be sporadic. I'd love to know what you think of the first one.**

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Their first came as a bit of a surprise. Not exactly unplanned, but not quite expected either.

She was so very far from her normal self that it took a second missed period before she even thought to take a test. Surviving another attempt on her life had more than taken its toll, both physically and mentally. The mood swings and nausea could have had a myriad of causes, and she hadn't been overly keen to dig deeper than was necessary. Not when she had only been back at work for four months.

The pink plus sign showed up a few days before the anniversary of the shooting.

"Rick?" her shaky voice had called from the bathroom.

He'd come running, afraid of what he might find. They had each had their fair share of paralysing fear since that night.

"I'm pregnant," she'd revealed, the words falling from her mouth in disbelief.

It would forever be known as the time that Richard Castle could find nothing to say.

The months that followed passed in a flurry of congratulations and doctors' appointments and endless discussion of names. Kate grew bigger and the spacious loft seemed to shrink under the mass of "essentials" they accrued for the baby. Castle developed a glow to rival his wife's. But who knew that 6 months could pass so quickly?

Her labour was eventful to say the least. The precinct was on lockdown when her waters broke. She shouldn't have been there - as Ryan and Esposito helpfully reminded her when they found themselves in the unexpected role of birth coaches.

"I am not having this baby on the floor of a holding cell!" she had hissed through gritted teeth at the mere suggestion that her contractions were getting worryingly close together.

In the end she made it to the hospital, and to her husband, in time. Those who had witnessed it were sure she managed the feat on sheer will alone.

The first child of best selling novelist, Richard Castle, and NYPD Captain, Katherine Beckett, was safely delivered in New York Presbytarian Hospital at 11:35pm on November 12. What Gina managed to keep out of the press was the very short window between the time of that safe delivery and the time of Katherine Beckett's admission. It was quickly decided that their daughter had her mother's looks and her father's undeniable flair for the dramatic.

Choosing a first name was surprisingly easy after the months of debate. Lily. They were in agreement that it suited her from the moment she was placed into Kate's arms. It had been on the final, final, final list.

The surname was a different matter. Castle? Beckett? Beckett-Castle? Castle-Beckett?

Caskett?

She swore that it was a slip of the tongue caused by exhaustion and postpartum hormones; he thought that it was a good compromise.

A game of rock, paper, scissors got them the answer they needed, but if anyone asked, they had decided that it would be nice for Lily to share a surname with her half-sister.

Lily Castle soon became the centre of her parents' world. Castle was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the parenting of a new baby came back to him, and after an anxious first few weeks Kate also found her stride.

If they had found the pregnancy fast, it was nothing compared to watching their baby grow.

"Castle, she's smiling!" turned into "Kate, she's sitting up!" and before they knew it, wobbly legs were taking their first steps across the room where the couple had once held onto life as well as one another.

One was enough. That was what she told herself as she threw another negative test into the trash. They had Lily - an energetic toddler who seemed sure to keep them on their toes for many years to come - and they didn't need anything more.

But it wasn't like trying was a chore. They would just carry on as normal and see what happened. If it was meant to be then it would happen; if not, then there was nothing they could do to change that.

For her third birthday, Lily asked for a baby. Kate wanted one too.

"What's wrong with me?" her voice had cracked, when she realised that months of tracking her ovulation had done nothing to help her cause.

Their second pregnancy was discovered much earlier than the first, but with almost as much surprise. The test had become a regular part of the routine of hormone injections and fertility monitoring, fitted in between dropping Lily at pre-school and meetings at 1PP. She hadn't dared hope that she'd see that little pink plus on the day it appeared.

"I told you the time traveller was right," Castle had gushed, his eyes crinkling as he broke into a smile at the news.

She had laughed at the thought. After all, they were supposed to have three children and there was no way she was going through this again.

It was only during her first ultrasound that Simon Doyle came crashing back to her mind. The early scan was precautionary as a result of a few days of pain that she didn't remember feeling with Lily. Castle held his wife's hand as the sonographer, and then the obstetrician had studied the image on the screen. She stared at the ceiling, bracing herself for the worst.

"Is the baby okay?" they had asked in unison, when the doctor turned to face them with an indiscernible expression.

Kate barely heard anything after the word "twins"; Castle grinned as he watched both blobs on the screen.

"When are you running for Senate?" he had whispered smugly, placing a kiss to her forehead.

The pregnancy was harder than the first and it felt longer too. Her maternity leave started earlier than planned when the effort of dragging herself to the precinct left her too exhausted to do much else. Maybe it was because she was now in her forties or maybe it was because there were two babies using her uterus as a playground. Either way, the last month was one of the hardest of her life.

This time, she was at the hospital as soon as labour began, refusing to accept that it would be better to wait out the early stages at home. Progress was slow. It hurt and she was tired. Twenty-four hours turned to thirty-six and even Castle had started to doubt that her body could take much more.

The emergency Cesarean was almost a relief. Not the part when the numbers on the monitors started to drop and he was herded out of the room to make way for the doctors and nurses. But the part that followed, when they heard their boys cry and they knew that it was over.

Reece and Jake Castle were introduced to a waiting room of worried friends and relatives by their father. Kate's recovery took time.

"Girl, this is the only rest you're going to be getting for a long time!" Lanie had teased, squeezing her tearful friend's hand as she kept her company in the hospital room.

And she was right.

The noise and chaos in the loft quickly started to rival that of Rick's wildest party days. The twins made it clear from day one that they were not to be treated as a single entity. When Jake was awake and screaming, Reece slept contentedly. When Reece needed fed, Jake needed his diaper changed. And in the middle of it all, Lily learned to open the front door.

"Castle, don't let her get out!" had not been an instruction Kate had expected to require in their home life.

But it was worth it. Every crazy, overwhelming and surprising second.

This was their always and it would certainly never be boring.


End file.
